Halo 5: Guardians Review

Halo 5: Guardians, the second main title in the Halo saga by 343 Industries, brings with it fresh gameplay mechanics, a new 15 mission campaign, and the biggest multiplayer since Halo 2. As a long time Halo fanboy, I couldn't wait for Halo 5. For the first time in a Halo game I truly felt like an augmented super soldier. The new gameplay mechanics like the Smart Link, thrusters, new and varied weapons and revamped classics are all welcome additions to the Halo formula. And while the multiplayer is absolutely rewarding, the campaign suffers from a lack of character development, an undeniable reliance on Halo's Expanded Universe, and the most uninspired story in the Halo saga to date.

All of the ad campaigns for Halo 5 were extremely intriguing and I wanted to know exactly what happened to the Master Chief and why he's gone rogue. Unfortunately those ads felt very misleading after I finished the story. Without any spoilers, the storyline of Halo 5 was simply not what I expected and felt very underdeveloped. With two teams of Spartans to control over the 15 mission campaign, Locke's Fireteam Osiris and Chief's Blue Team, 2/3 of those missions are from the perspective of Spartan Jameson Locke. Locke suffers from a lack of motivation outside of a "complete the mission" mentality. Halo 5 needed to be a Master Chief story and it simply wasn't. Perhaps I'm simply nostalgic for Halo 1-3. Halo 5's story has a very hard time standing on its own outside of Halo's Expanded Universe. As someone who has never read any Halo books, I felt lost at times because I think major plot points were lost on me. When it comes to characters, Chief's Blue Team is never really developed in the game. What is his relationship to these other three Spartans? For those of you that have read Halo: Fall of Reach then you already know Blue Team and the characters, but once again, this needs to be able to stand on its own outside those books. On the other hand, Fireteam Osiris has slightly more development and it makes playing as Locke more enjoyable because of the rapport between them. Overall, I only wish Halo 5 had focused more on making this story stand on its own; however, gameplay is a different beast...

Halo 5 has the best gameplay and gun mechanics of any Halo before it, and it may be the best first person shooter on the market right now. As I said earlier, this is the first Halo game where I truly felt like a Spartan super soldier. Chief and Locke both move with a surprising new speed that still manages to maintain that classic Halo feel. New mechanics are introduced like the ground pound and dodge thrusters, as well as a clamber ability, making it easier to reach high areas. This is especially important because this is the most wide open and vertical Halo ever made. The environments are huge and the battle arenas have multiple diverging paths allowing you to flank your enemies to get that extra edge in battle. The shooting mechanics are extremely tight, fluid, and responsive, allowing you to make quick work of your enemies. New guns are introduced as well as the favorite classics like the Assault Rifle, Battle Rifle, and DMR. They have all been given a facelift as well as new sound effects. My favorite has to be the BR. It has just never sounded so awesome! There are a couple new Covenant weapons and Promethean weapons that have been upgraded or given new abilities. Each time you enter a new arena there always seems to be a plethora of weapons for you to choose from. It's sad that the player is only allowed two weapons for their loadout, because there were multiple times where I really wanted to carry way more. 

Halo 5 is the first game in the saga to throw out split-screen co-op in favor of 60 frames per second and online 4-player cooperative play. While split-screen is a very significant loss, 4-player co-op is a blast. I soloed the campaign on Heroic difficulty in about 6 hours and I guarantee a team of 4 friends could finish the game on Legendary in 5 hours. 343i has added a difficulty scaling for however many players are in one campaign session so that should keep things interesting although I haven't tested it extensively for sure. While the loss of split-screen cooperative play is significant, 4-player co-op is still a good time. 

Graphically the game is absolutely gorgeous with stunning visuals and scale. The motion capture for the different faces is remarkable. Nathan Fillion's character Buck is especially recognizable. The open environments have a wonderful attention to detail and the scale of different areas and enemy types is really really cool. Remember the Scarab from Halo 2? Just wait till you see another massive weapon like that. Because of the lack of split-screen co-op, the game consistently runs at 60 frames per second, though not always at 1080p. I never noticed any terrible or glaring framerate drops but I've read reports that others have. 

And last but certainly not least let's talk about Halo 5: Guardians' amazing multiplayer. 343 Industries has brought us the best Halo multiplayer experience since Halo 2. There are two distinct sections: Arena and Warzone. Arena has all your classic modes like Slayer and the headshot-only favorite SWAT. Warzone is the new game mode, and let me say it is the best thing that ever happened to Halo's multiplayer. Warzone functions a lot like a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena(MOBA), with not only online opponents but also AI combatants that you kill to earn points, and three bases to capture and hold. The goal is whichever team of 12 gets to 1000 points first, or holds all three bases and destroys the enemy's Core. At first it can feel overwhelming but after two matches I was hooked. Each match lasts roughly 20-25 minutes and they are exhilarating. Covenant and Promethean Legendary Bosses will spawn throughout the match awarding 150 points to whoever manages to kill it, as well as smaller tier bosses awarding 50 points. The game is exciting, fun, and fast-paced. Throughout the match you will earn REQ levels allowing you to purchase different weapons, vehicles, and power ups that you've unlocked through REQ packs. REQ packs are purchased through REQ points earned throughout matches. The system works well and is somewhat addicting. There are 3 tiers: Gold, Silver, and Bronze. The packs contain weapons and permanent unlocks like Armor, Stances, Assassinations, and Helmets. For more on REQ packs watch this video here. Overall, Multiplayer is extremely satisfying, more entertaining than I found the campaign to be. 

Halo 5: Guardians is a true testament to the power of the Xbox One. The first person shooter gameplay of Halo 5 is the best on the market right now and the multiplayer experience hasn't been this good since Halo 2 in 2004. The graphics and open environments are beautiful and jaw-dropping. And while the campaign is clearly just set up for Halo 6, that is no excuse for a very short campaign with no clear direction. I certainly hope that they remedy this for the next game in the Halo saga, but until then I'll just be waiting for a remaster of Halo: Reach. 

Halo 5: Guardians

8.5

+Graphics and visuals

+Arena and Warzone

+FPS Gameplay is the best in the series

-Campaign was lacking

-No character development

-No split-screen co-op

Destiny: The Taken King Review

Eyes Up, Guardians.

Destiny: The Taken King fixes almost everything that was bad about Destiny when it first released a year ago. When Destiny first hit store shelves and digital outlets around the world, I succumbed to the hype. I played hours upon hours for three weeks straight until I hit Light Level 28 and stopped because I was just plain bored with it. It was the same grind over and over. Since then, I have gone through a love/hate relationship with Bungie's galactic space adventure game. The Dark Below expansion felt half baked, and it wasn't until House of Wolves, the 2nd expansion, that I really started to come back and start grinding out more hours trying to get that 34 Light Level cap. Eventually I did and the game became super fun. Loot rewards still weren't rewarding me for the time I was putting in, some weapons were overpowered thus leaving others excluded from Raids because they didn't have those exotic weapons, etc. But The Taken King has fixed all of that and more. 

My single biggest problem with Destiny when I reviewed it last year was the fact that there was no cohesive story. There was a universe that Bungie had built, with lore tied behind Grimoire Cards obtained by playing the game, but the Destiny vanilla campaign was extremely lackluster. The Taken King(referred to as TTK from here on out), brought back gorgeous cinematic cutscenes, wonderful written dialogue, and a self-contained story with a single villain, Oryx. The story is simple, Oryx, The Taken King, wants revenge because you and your fellow Guardians killed his son, Crota, in The Dark Below. The six hour campaign was entertaining, sometimes scary, and a ton of fun. The different characters in the Tower all have new written dialogue, making them feel way more important than they were in the vanilla campaign. Cayde-6, for instance, steals the show. Nathan Fillion does a brilliant job bringing this awesome character to life. Peter Dinklage has been replaced by Nolan North as Ghost, a welcome change considering the lackluster performance by Dinklage. RIP Dinklebot. Hello Nolanbot. I think Nolan does a great job with Ghost and makes the bond between your Guardian and your Ghost feel more important. 

The leveling system has been reworked to better benefit everyone. The level cap has been raised to 40 and you get there through experience, just by playing the game. A light level still remains, and now it's calculated by the average number of attack and defense on your weapons and armor. For example, LL 240 is the minimum recommended for the Daily Heroic Story mission and LL 290 is the recommended for the new raid, King's Fall. With the new loot system rewarding better drops more frequently, the climb to 290 is relatively easy by just playing the game and doing the new strikes, missions, and things you enjoy.

Oryx, the Taken King

There are more new weapons to acquire in TTK then there were in the original release of Destiny. These new Year 2 weapons had me dropping my trusty Fatebringer to pick up a random "Uncommon" Hand Cannon that had a better attack rating. Many legendaries and exotics were left behind in Year 1 but some have transferred over to TTK and Year 2 like Red Death, Hawkmoon, Hard Light, and others. I have yet to find a new Year 2 Exotic weapon but for now I'm using the Dead Orbit legendary Scout Rifle. I love all the new weapons and armor. They have also added Artifacts which can be obtained one you reach level 40. They contribute to your Light Level and carry different perks. Bungie has added quest tracking, for a more familiar RPG style of questing, more vault and bounty space, and loads more, not to mention a sword weapon that is used as a heavy. 

Bungie has also added a new playable location, Oryx's ship the Dreadnought. It's massive caverns and halls are filled with enemies and delicious secrets and rewards. With the Dreadnought comes two new strikes, one of them having an extremely intense and nerve-racking boss fight which I won't spoil. As well as a new public event arena called, Court of Oryx. Court of Oryx uses different tiers of runes that you present to statues which then summon enemies and bosses into the arena. Tier 1 is the easiest with Tier 3 arguably needing a Fireteam of 6 people but it is tons of fun. Heroic and Nightfall strikes have now been turned into playlists, with an added streak that allows you to earn higher rewards the more strikes you play without going to orbit. The new Taken enemies will sometimes appear in classic strikes from Year 1 changing things up a bit. Speaking of the Taken, they are the new enemy that consist of every other race from Destiny with added features. Taken Fallen Captains can blind you, Taken Vex Goblins can give other enemies invincible shields, Taken Knights can spew fire, and that's just to name a few. 

There are three new Subclasses for the Titan, Warlock, and Hunter. The Hunter Nightstalker can summon a bow and arrow from the void and use it to tether enemies allowing you and your friends to do more DPS. The Titan Sunbreaker can summon a flaming hammer and throw it into groups of enemies. And the Warlock Stormcaller can fly around shooting lightning out of their fingertips like a Sith Lord from Star Wars, pretty cool and useful for crowd control. They all come with different perks just like the original subclasses, and being a Hunter I am really enjoying the Nightstalker and I can't wait to try out the Sunbreaker on my Titan character. New trophies and achievements have been added for TTK and they are tied to finishing the main story and different side quests that open up after the initial campaign has concluded. The new Raid, King's Fall, has received massive amounts of praise for it's puzzles, intense and mechanical boss fights, and loot rewards. I myself will be trying it out later this week with my buddies and I can't wait! 

Overall, Destiny: The Taken King is a huge improvement over the Destiny that was released last year. A better loot system, new weapons, a captivating new story campaign with great voice acting and dialogue, a villain with motivation, new Strikes, new Crucible maps, more vault space, simpler bounties, more weapons and armor, and tons of other things! The Taken King has been one of my favorite releases this year and looks totally different from what Destiny used to be. If you stopped playing Destiny after awhile last year, I don't blame you, but now do yourself a favor and download The Taken King. I promise, you won't regret it. 

9.5

+New Loot system

+King's Fall raid

+Story and dialogue

+New strikes

+Leveling system

Bloodborne Review

Hunt Your Nightmares

Bloodborne is a beautiful, twisted, addicting, and surprisingly scary game. The spiritual successor to Dark Souls and Demon's Souls, Bloodborne knows what it is even though the beginning is wildly different from the endgame. This game is dark, yet full of light; horrifying, but mesmerizing; punishing, yet rewarding. I found myself falling in love with the world around me as the game changed from a Victorian horror to a cosmic nightmare.

Bloodborne wears its influences on its sleeve. Developed by From Software and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Studio, Bloodborne is a PS4 Exclusive action role-playing game with similar elements to the Souls games. It's extremely challenging and in order to be successful one must be patient and take the time to learn the game's mechanics. It teaches you to play as you learn from your mistakes.

The opening cinematic sees your character receiving a "Blood Ministration" which leads you to the in depth character customization screen. Have some fun with this part if you want, or create a realistic looking person, your choice.

My personal favorite: The Joker. Credit to u/mynameisnotspecial on Reddit.

After that, theres another quick cutscene and then you are set loose in the city of Yharnam. As usual with the Souls games, nobody tells you what to do or where to go save for a few developer notes left on the ground telling you the basic controls and "Seek the Paleblood to transcend the hunt." Thats about all you get. Right off the bat this game is challenging. After receiving your first Trick Weapon and Firearm, you can begin to hunt down the different beasts and bosses. The combat in Bloodborne is much quicker than in Dark Souls so don't expect to stand behind your shield while blocking attacks. The game forces you to keep moving, dodging, parrying, rolling, whatever it takes to keep you from staying in one spot. I personally found this form of combat to be much more satisfying than Dark Souls.

The world of Bloodborne is dark, beautiful, and full of mystery. Every time I advanced through another boss and into a new territory, I was left in wonder at how unique the different areas are. There are city-like areas, intricate castles, and dark forests. Everything is seamlessly connected so that there are no load times between world unless you fast travel or die. And you will die a lot. Like the Souls games, Bloodborne is very difficult, but not impossible. Every enemy has their weakness. In the beginning, you just need to be prepared to die a lot. Eventually you will get better with practice. The major downside to Bloodborne at launch was the load times every time you died. They were improved in a patch so it's gotten better but sometimes they are still about thirty-seconds long, and when you're dying over and over, that might as well be an eternity.

I don't want to spoil or talk about any more story elements because like the previous games, the story is about discovering and interpreting it on your own. It's incredibly interesting though. I found it to be more intriguing than Dark Souls because there is less lore, but it's left wide open for you and other players to come up with your own theories.

PVP works the same in Bloodborne as it does in Dark Souls. Instead of special stones, you have bells that you can ring to summon other players into your world for Co-Op or to invade someone's world to steal their Blood Echoes. I used Co-Op multiple times in order to take down a boss that was giving me trouble and only had a couple connection issues. I never invaded someone's world but my world was invaded at least three times. When someone invades your world and kills you, you lose all your echoes and the person that killed you gains them. It's rather frustrating when this happens so be on the lookout.

The bosses in Bloodborne have a very deformed and gothic style to them. Some of them are wildly inspired by the horror of H.P. Lovecraft which, if you're a fan of his writing, is very very cool. I'm pretty sure I died at least once in every boss fight except for one. They all present different challenges and different fighting styles, so learn to adapt to each one.

I can't state enough how intriguing this world is to me. When the credits rolled on the ending I had logged forty-eight hours in the game and I immediately started New Game Plus to experience it all over again. It's brutally difficult but that shouldn't be a reason to hold back on this incredible game. Bloodborne is a beautiful, horrifying, mesmerizing, and addicting game full of mystery just waiting to be explored.

9.5 

+Visually gorgeous

+Intricate and quick combat

+Intriguing world

+Boss battles

-Load times between deaths

The Order: 1886 Review

The Order: 1886 is a game that has had so much hype surrounding it since the trailer debut at E3 2013. The Order marks developer Ready at Dawn's first Playstation 4 exclusive game. The Order: 1886 is a good game. Visually it's one of the best looking games I have ever seen. The way that it seamlessly blends gameplay and cutscenes is awesome. And sadly, The Order's greatest strengths are also it's weaknesses.

The Order takes place from mid October to the end of December during the year, 1886. It's an alternate history that allows the gamer to experience new technologies thanks to people like Nikola Tesla, who acts as the gadget person for the Order's members. Speaking of which, the Order is the current time period's incarnation of the Knights of the Round Table, started by King Arthur. Each Knight is granted near immortality thanks to the Blackwater, an almost sinister substance that heals wounds and prolongs life. You take on the role of Sir Galahad, an honorable Knight. The Order is seeking to quell a rebellion while also fighting their ancient enemy, the Lycans. That is the basis of the story without giving too much away. The storyline kept me interested with it's various twists and turns but lost me a little bit towards the end. It's only around 7 hours long, which for this game ends up being plenty. If it had been any more I would've wanted it to end already. Everything ends with an obvious sequel set up, which makes it rather disappointing. There is one really great twist that I won't spoil for you, and it definitely held my interest, but they didn't really explore it any further and that left me disappointed as well.

The Order: 1886 is essentially a template of a third-person shooter. If you've played Gears of War, Uncharted, or any third-person cover based shooter then The Order will be very familiar to you. It's not something I necessarily have a problem with, it's just nothing new, and there is nothing that makes it stand out from its predecessors in terms of the shooting mechanics. It runs smoothly, though. Almost everything about the gameplay feels good. It's smooth, it runs nicely, and there was only one time during Chapter 3 where I encountered a pretty bad glitch that had me running through walls and through the air, I just rebooted the game and didn't have a problem after that.

Wow.

When it comes to graphics and presentation, The Order: 1886 shines. The visuals are easily the most appealing aspect of this game and truly show off the power of the PS4. Multiple times during my journey I would just stop and admire my surroundings whether I was looking at a nice vista(shown above), or just examining a room. The character models are great looking right down to the cloth physics on their clothes and the wind running through their hair. Ready at Dawn has created an awesome atmosphere with this game. It really feels like you're in this version of London and it's totally believable. The cutscenes are beautiful, but they're just too long and too frequent. The Order has awful pacing issues. At times you are just walking down a street or through a building for ten minutes or so and then all of the sudden there's a giant firefight. It just doesn't make sense most of the time. The voice acting in the game is really great and the characters become very fleshed out over the course of your journey. In the beginning I thought Galahad was quite boring but I grew to like him and almost everyone else in the game.

Do you like quick time events? Because this game is full of them. Multiple times there was a cutscene going on and apparently I was supposed to interact with it. I would've preferred it if the cutscene had just played out instead of me moving my character or pressing triangle or something. Even the big boss battles with the Lycans are just a giant quick time event fight. It's rather disappointing.

Galahad and Isi.

The Order: 1886 is a good game, don't get me wrong. It is worth playing through, once, but after you've beaten it there is no replay value unless you are going back to get trophies which are easily attainable in a single playthrough. The graphics and visuals of this game are amazing. But that just isn't enough. Gameplay is worth something in this industry and the gameplay of The Order is simply too bland for my taste. The story is good, but ends in an awkward place. All in all this game is worth playing one time. And after that, there just isn't much need to return.

Here is some gameplay from my YouTube channel you can check out:

This is the bad glitch I mentioned from Chapter 3:

7

+Visually incredible

+Storyline isn't TOO bad

+Great cutscenes...

-...but they last too long

-Pacing issues

-Too many quick time events

Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition Review

What if Superman became a dictator? That is the driving idea behind Injustice: Gods Among Us. Now most people know that this game came out in 2013 and the PS4 and Xbox One editions came out later. Well I just now picked it up this past weekend for fun and started playing. In about three hours I was already 64% through the Single-Player portion and was having a blast with it. I'm not that into fighting games but if you combine Mortal Kombat style gameplay and my favorite superheroes with an actually interesting storyline then I am much more inclined to play.

The storyline is that the Joker drugged Superman and made him kill his wife Lois and their unborn child, while simultaneously setting off a nuclear bomb destroying Metropolis. Overcome with grief, Superman kills the Joker and becomes the "High Councilor" of Earth creating the new One Earth Government. Many of the DC heroes choose to join Superman's new regime, and those who go against him are killed. Batman is the one hero leading the Insurgency against Superman. It's a really cool and fairly well written story and it inspired me to read the prequel comic that came out alongside the game.

The graphics are the least standout piece of the game. The cutscenes are cool and everything but they look a little muddled and are hardly an update from the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. The in-game fighting graphics actually make the game look better in my opinion. The environments are well produced and diverse enough that nothing ever really feels the same. Interactive environmental objects really spice up the gameplay and make things more interesting.

The controls are easy to use in the beginning but take a long time to master. Trying to learn every character's Special Moves can take a long time and mostly it just comes down to button-mashing. Don't get me wrong, the game is still a ton of fun. This game really is fairly self-explanatory so this doesn't need to be a long review, but the besides the Story mode there are different challenge games to play and practice arenas and online modes.

The Ultimate Edition comes with all of the DLC including new missions, character skins, and six new playable characters. Injustice is a really fun game perfect for casual gamers. The story is interesting, the gameplay is really fun, but the graphics could be better.

Be sure to check out my new YouTube channel here!

Here is some gameplay:

8.5

+Gameplay

+Story mode

-Graphics

My Most Anticipated Games of 2015

1. Batman: Arkham Knight
There are plenty of reasons for why this is my most anticipated game of 2015. Arkham Knight was supposed to come out on October 14th, 2014. Then it got pushed and was rumored to release in February 2015 alongside The Witcher 3. And after that it was confirmed for June 2nd, 2015. There is lots of anticipation building up to this release. When Arkham Asylum released back in 2009 the reviews were incredible. Someone actually made a good Batman video game! And not just good, it was amazing. Arkham City expanded on Asylum with a new story, open world locale, and more of the fantastic combat. I don't really consider Arkham Origins as part of the Arkham storyline since it wasn't developed by Rocksteady(and it wasn't that good, aside from Troy Baker's Joker.) And now we come to Arkham Knight. This is the finale of the Batman Arkham trilogy and it's more expansive than ever. The entirety of Gotham City is open to you, the rogues gallery is waging war on Batman, you get to drive and utilize the Batmobile, and then there is the mysterious Arkham Knight villain. Rocksteady is staying fairly tight-lipped concerning the story, I think all we know is the general theme of all out war against Batman. If Rocksteady only wrote a new story with the exact same combat and gameplay mechanics as Arkham City then I would be perfectly happy playing that game. With that said, I can't wait to play Arkham Knight.

2. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Uncharted 4 is slated to release in 2015(most likely in the fall), but if Naughty Dog were to delay it to 2016 in order to iron out some issues I'm totally fine with that because I want this game to be as polished and clean as possible. The title itself almost implies that this is the finale for Nathan Drake. And that makes me quite sad, because Drake is one of the most interesting and fantastic protagonists in the gaming world. Naughty Dog is the greatest developer in the industry right now(argue with me on that I dare you) and Uncharted 4 has easily been one of the most anticipated games ever since Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception was released. The graphics are ramped up to get the full potential out of the PS4, and Naughty Dog was being incredibly smart and sneaky by developing The Last of Us Remastered in order to learn the technology of the PS4 and figure out how to best utilize the hardware in creating Uncharted 4. I'm fully on board with Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann heading up this project. Some people were worried that after TLOU, Uncharted 4 would be extremely dark and not the light-hearted adventure we've been familiar with in the first three games. But both Straley and Druckmann have assured us that Uncharted 4 will stay true to the themes that this franchise has built and established. The environments are supposed to be more sandbox like, still linear, but with a greater sense of exploration, similar to what was in The Last of Us. The story sounds great: Drake has been happily out of the treasure hunting business for the last three years living with his wife Elena. Drake's brother shows up out of nowhere and enlists his help to find a long lost pirate treasure, and once again Nathan Drake goes once more into the fray. I'm excited because up until now we didn't know much about Drake's past, and I think this story will shed some light on our protagonist who does have a bit of a mysterious past. Mysterious only because we just don't know much about it. Needless to say, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, will no doubt be one of the best games of 2015, and maybe Game of the Year.

3. Halo 5: Guardians

For now Halo 5 doesn't have a confirmed release date but it's supposed to come out in 2015. Not much is known about the storyline for Halo 5. Halo 4 left us in a strange place. Master Chief feels alienated in the society. He lost Cortana, and now he is alone. From the brief teaser we caught at E3 2013, we saw Chief walking through a desert and then what we can assume was a giant Promethean rise up out of the sand and fly away. Exactly a year later we got another short trailer at E3 2014: The trailer showed the scene from Halo 2 when Master Chief blows up the Covenant ship in the beginning of the game by riding the bomb through space. The voice of the Arbiter was narrating the trailer. He was talking to Agent Locke who has been revealed as a Spartan hunting down Master Chief throughout Halo 5. We can assume that John-117 has probably gone rogue, but knowing Master Chief, I'm sure he has his reasons. We learned that Locke is in fact a playable character and you can learn more about him by watching the Halo: Nightfall miniseries that was packaged with the Halo: MCC and is also available on the Halo Channel on Xbox One. But rest assured, because Master Chief is definitely the main protagonist. After playing through all four Halo games back to back over the holidays after I got an Xbox One, my faith in Halo is restored, and I can't wait to see where the Chief is going next. 

4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

RPGs are my favorite genre of video games. I love fantasy stories. The Witcher games are some of the most expansive RPGs ever made. The lore is rich and filled with so much amazing history and I just adore this universe. The gameplay in The Witcher 2 is beautifully executed. The story is intriguing and full of political strife. The Witcher 3 is taking all of that and expanding upon it. If you've watched any gameplay of The Witcher 3 then you know how polished the combat looks, how amazingly detailed and gorgeous the visuals are, and the massive environments that are in store for this game. I think I read somewhere that this installment is actually three times bigger than Witcher 2, which is astounding to say the least. When this game got pushed from February to May I was a little upset. But then I realized that I want CD Projekt RED to release the best possible and clean version of this game as they can. Developments like this need lots of time and care in order for them to come off as a success, and I think Witcher 3 is going to be hands down one of my favorite RPGs ever. It should come as no surprise that I've had this game pre-ordered for the last year and a half. Enough said. 

5. Bloodborne

Bloodborne looks legit. I love Dark Souls and Dark Souls II. They are easily the most challenging yet rewarding games I've ever played and many other gamers can attest to that. Bloodborne, also developed by From Software, is taking that familiar Souls gameplay and spicing it up by making it more action oriented and fast-paced. The setting instantly looks like something you could see in a Souls game. Except this is a sort of Victorian England kind of vibe. I honestly don't know much about this game in terms of story. I'm not sure if anyone does. If you've played the Souls games then you know that the storyline for those is mostly played out by discovering environments and talking to NPCs. Maybe Bloodborne will have more of that thing going on. Keep in mind this is a PS4 exclusive so if you're itching to get your hands on it, then you better have a PS4. I think this is going to be a wonderful game and I look forward to playing it on March 24th, 2015. 

Honorable Mention

Dying Light - January 27

Evolve - February 10

The Order: 1886 - February 20

Dark Souls: II Scholar of the First Sin Edition - April 7
The Division - TBA
Star Wars: Battlefront - TBA
Elder Scrolls Online (PS4, Xbox One) - TBA
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - TBA
No Man's Sky - TBA

Why We Need To Stop Pre-Ordering Games

No, GameStop, we would not like to pre-order. And here's why: until gamers stop pre-ordering, developers will continue to release unfinished games. 2014 was supposed to be a fantastic year with TONS of massive blockbuster video games. The year was going to be filled with games such as Assassin's Creed Unity, that were supposed to be amazing and new and revolutionary(see what I did there?). But instead, ACU was broken from the start. Horribly broken. Maybe you're wondering, "Hey Connor, why didn't you write a review on Unity?." Well, reader, I didn't waste my time writing a review on it because it was so glitchy, fragmented, and just plain broken that I didn't even finish it! Same thing happened with Halo: The Master Chief Collection. I didn't get Halo at launch because I didn't own an Xbox One until Christmas, but I read all about how the multiplayer didn't work for days!

Developers are now working under the assumption that because so many consumers have pre-ordered a copy of whatever game they are developing, they can release it when they want to, then upload day one patches to fix the bugs and continue to release patches until the game is rightfully "finished." There used to be a time where you would go out and buy a new game on day 1 of release, pop it in the console of your choice, and play it with minimal bugs. Retail companies like GameStop are partnering with the developers to give special "pre-order exclusives" to entice gamers to reserve a copy in advance of the release. A couple years ago, pre-ordering a game made plenty of sense because if you didn't, then there was a chance you may not get a copy on day 1. Now, distributors make sure that retail companies have plenty of copies for day 1 of release. Who cares if you get that bonus weapons pack or not by pre-ordering? Chances are the developer will release that weapons pack in DLC a few months later, or those items are already available later in the game.

Look at those next-gen graphics!

Game developers can make educated guesses on how many copies they will sell because they can tell how many people have reserved that game. And hey, I'm guilty of this too. I pre-ordered 14 games last year. And almost every single one had a day one patch because the developer didn't finish the game before releasing it to the public. We need to unite together to stop pre-ordering games and gradually, gaming companies will realize that they have to finish their games before releasing them. There were a lot of games that were supposed to come out either holiday season 2014, or early 2015, and they have been delayed. But guess what? I'd rather wait to play a game that the developer has taken their time making and perfecting then play something that comes out 6 months before it should be released. Take The Last of Us for instance: Naught Dog set a release date for it. And when it came down to crunch time they delayed it because it just wasn't where it needed to be yet. And you can ask anyone in the gaming journalism community and they will probably tell you that those last couple of months of development time meant the difference between TLOU being a great game, and a near perfect game. So please, I'm begging you, don't pre-order any games this year. Wait a day or two to see if that game is broken or not. Read the reviews, listen to the critics, then decide if that $60 is worth it. Let's reverse the tide.

Thoughts on the Xbox One

For Christmas this year I asked my parents for an Xbox One. Considering I already owned an Xbox 360, a PS3, and a PS4 I thought they wouldn't get it for me. But alas they did! I got it set up on Christmas morning and thats exactly when the problems started... Granted I know that Xbox Live and PSN were both down because of the hacks. So I couldn't set up the Xbox for awhile since it could not connect to Xbox Live. However once I did get it all set up I immediately started playing Halo: The Master Chief Collection, I'll write the review on that later, for now I just want to talk about the Xbox itself. Please note this isn't a review of the console, I just want to talk a little bit about it.

I like it. I love it. And I apologize for this in advance but it is hard for me to not continuously compare the console to my Playstation 4. The Xbox One really is great. Not being able to immediately start playing it was a major drawback for me though. The console required an update from Xbox Live right out of the box, but Live was down. Eventually it worked out and I downloaded the update and it brought me to the home screen. Personally, I'm not a fan of the Xbox's User Interface. I think it's a little confusing to navigate and it took me a few minutes just to find the Settings app. I'm getting used to it, but I've still had a few issues. The controller is awesome. It's very similar to the Xbox 360 controller, but a little bit bigger and the triggers feel better. The games I've played are Halo: MCC, Shadow of Mordor, and Forza Horizon 2. All of them have functioned well. I had played Mordor on my PS4 and I can't really tell a difference between the two consoles. I love Forza Horizon 2, I think it's a great game and I'll definitely be writing the review on that later, I just got it Saturday the 10th. But yeah overall I'm really loving the Xbox.

The main reason I wanted an Xbox One was for Halo. Halo is the definitive Xbox game, no question. Xbox One sales soared during the month of November when the Halo: MCC was released. Xbox also had to lower it's price temporarily to $349, presumably to compete with the PS4 which had been outselling the Xbox for the last year. Call me a hypocrite but yes I got one. I enjoy having both consoles and I've turned my PS4 on only twice since I got the Xbox. Now I can expand my blog reviews to include Xbox exclusive games which is really exciting for me as the writer and hopefully you as the reader.

2015 is shaping up to be a great year for gaming. There are lots of games coming out this year and I'm hoping for many more announcements to be made(Fallout 4, anyone?). I'll try to be better about writing more, but with school and theatre commitments sometimes its hard(along with all the time I spend gaming). Anyways, it's going to be a great year. Stay tuned to CDRGames!

-Connor